Serena Deeb
Serena Deeb (born June 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment, appearing on the SmackDown brand and also known for her time with the developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, under the ring name Serena. Deeb has also made appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where she was a six-time Women's Champion, Shimmer Women Athletes and Wrestling New Classic, where she is a former one-time WNC Women's Champion. Career World Wrestling Entertainment FCW (2009-2010) On the May 19, 2009 episode of World Wrestling Entertainment's ECW on Sci Fi, Deeb was seen standing backstage while Finlay was walking to the ring. Though Deeb initially denied she signed with WWE, Shimmer promoter Dave Prazak confirmed that a contract had been negotiated on July 1, 2009. Serena made her debut on July 15, 2009 at a Florida Championship Wrestling house show where she teamed with Maria and Angela Fong to win against the team of Natalya, Layla and Alicia Fox in a six Diva Tag match. In her televised debut match, Deeb defeated Layla. Her ring name was soon changed to Serena Mancini and once again to Mia Mancini, portraying the character of a mafia boss' daughter. On 14 August, Mancini pinned April Lee in a four-way match during the TV taping for FCW's fiftieth episode to win a future opportunity to compete against Angela for her Queen of FCW crown. She followed up on September 3, though it would not air until October 4, with a win over Angela to become the second Queen of FCW. While defending her crown, Mancini began taking on WWE Divas from the televised roster, defeating Tiffany, Natalya, Savannah and Gail Kim. Later in September, Mancini was involved in a backstage segment which was unacknowledged by the commentary team where a mysterious man told her to lose her match against Angela, though she would refuse to. At the February 4, 2010 FCW television tapings, AJ Lee defeated Serena, who incorporated her evil SmackDown character into the Mancini role, to become the new Queen of FCW. When Matt Martlaro announced that there would be a creation of the FCW Divas Championship, Serena competed in the tournament to determine the inaugural Champion, during which she defeated Aksana and AJ Lee en route to the final where she was defeated by Naomi Night. The Straight Edge Society (2010) On the January 22, 2010 episode of SmackDown, Deeb appeared, playing the part of an audience member, before jumping over the crowd barrier to join CM Punk's group of straight edge followers; as part of the initiation, she agreed to have her head shaved bald. In a later podcast interview with wrestling journalist Brady Hicks, Deeb would say of the head shaving: "It was a really unique opportunity. Seeing a woman getting her head shaved was so rare, you don’t see it all that often in the history of wrestling. Getting to do it as my debut was really, really cool, and really powerful. I was also very scared about what I was going to look like. There were a lot of uncertainties, but it ended up being really, really great for my career." One week later, she reappeared with Punk and Luke Gallows, now as a member of the villainous Straight Edge Society, for their match against D-Generation X for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. However, Theodore Long changed the title match and instead set up a singles match between Punk and Triple H, during which she and Gallows attacked Triple H, disqualifying Punk in the process. On the July 2 episode of SmackDown, Serena unwillingly showed video security footage of her drinking alcohol at a bar as an alibi for Punk's whereabouts, raising the ire of The Society; she was forgiven by Punk the next week, though Gallows showed signs of disapproval. This incident was the first of many signs of trouble within the group, leading to Serena's first televised match in WWE on August 20 (taped August 17). In a match where she and Gallows would be expelled from The Society if they lost, the duo took on Big Show and Kelly Kelly in a mixed tag team match, where the evil Serena used a gutbuster to pin Kelly. On August 20, Deeb was released from her WWE contract, reportedly for not "living out" her straight edge persona in public. Because SmackDown was pre-recorded, her release was not revealed immediately, which gave her one last appearance, airing on August 27 as a valet to Punk and Gallows in separate matches. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Deeb appeared at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's pay-per-view Slammiversary in June 2008, where she took part in Awesome Kong's $25,000 Fan Challenge in a three minute squash match, as did fellow OVW and Shimmer wrestler Josie, who signed a contract with the company. On April 19, 2011 Deeb returned to TNA and was defeated by Winter in a dark match. On March 17, 2013, Serena took part of the first Knockouts Knockdown PPV that aired on September 6, 2013, and competed against fellow Virginia native Mickie James in the final qualifying match for a spot in the Gauntlet Battle Royal. During the match, Serena turned into a villainess and attempted to destroy James. Serena laughed evilly to show off her heel persona, but despite her tactics, the villainous Serena ended up losing the match to James. Serena returned to TNA on the June 25, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, doing so as a villainess aligned with James Storm during his rivalry with Magnus and Mickie James. Serena accused Mickie of turning her back on their friendship once she became famous, and gladly took the opportunity to align with The Revolution so she could target Mickie. The events led to a mixed tag team match, which saw Serena and Storm defeated by Magnus and Mickie.